Chamber and committees

The following table shows the Social Security Assistance final outturn for each financial year since 2018, when the Scottish Government began to deliver devolved Social Security benefits, split by category.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Whilst the Scottish Government publish data on both Recorded Crime in Scotland and Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, these are based on distinct and unlinked data sets and it is not possible to directly compare them.

New information will be published later this year as part of delivering Section 15 of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which requires an annual report to parliament on the characteristics of hate crime in Scotland. This will include the total number of hate crimes recorded by Police Scotland in 2024-25, and the number that were cleared up (i.e. where there exists a sufficiency of evidence under Scots law to justify consideration of criminal proceedings).

In addition to the above, the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal service have also published Hate crime in Scotland, 2024-25.This provides details on hate crime-related charges reported to COPFS in Scotland, including decisions on how those charges will proceed (such as to Court proceedings, direct measures, no action etc.)

The Fostering a positive, inclusive and safe school environment guidance was published on 17 June.

This non-statutory guidance aims to support schools to foster a positive, inclusive and safe school environment through their approaches to positive relationships and behaviour. In particular, it provides clarity to all members of a school community – staff, parents and children and young people – on the use of consequences as part of relationships and behaviour policies.

We have also published new guidance for local authorities and schools on using risk assessment processes to mitigate or minimise violent, aggressive and dangerous behaviours exhibited by children and young people at school.

The following table shows the estimated number of police recorded cyber-crimes during 2021-22 to 2023-24. These estimates are based on a review of crime records, whereby a random sample of cases was drawn across Scotland for those types of crime that could in theory involve a cyber-element. Further information on recorded cyber-crime is available in the recorded crime Accredited Official Statistics publications at Recorded crime in Scotland - gov.scot. Figures for 2024-25 will be published as part of this series on 24th June 2025.

This information is not currently held centrally.

As part of delivering Section 15 of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, we will prepare an annual report for parliament later this year covering the year of 2024-25. This will include both the characteristics of those involved and the specific prejudices shown by the perpetrators.

Police Scotland have published management information which details the total number of hate crimes recorded by them during 2024-25, by quarter and protected characteristic. This is available in Table 4 of their Quarter 4 Force Quarterly Bulletin 2024/25.

The Scottish Government can respond in terms of where single carriageway trunk roads have been previously committed to being dualled. The Scottish Government cannot comment on any commitments made by Local Authorities to dual single carriageways roads on the local road network.

The Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26 established a pipeline of projects and programmes. Included within this was the commitment to dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness and the A96 from Inverness to Craibstone Roundabout.

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness and good progress is being made in delivering targets in the delivery plan announced in December 2023, which anticipates completion by the end of 2035.

In terms of the A96, the position of the Scottish Government has not changed – the current favoured position is to fully dual the route and we are already starting the dualling process from Inverness to Nairn, including a Nairn Bypass. As part of the then Bute House Agreement, the Scottish Government agreed to undertake a review of the corridor and Transport Scotland published the outcomes from the Review in draft for consultation in November 2024. The feedback received from the consultation will help inform the Scottish Government’s final decision on how best to take forward improvements to the A96.

The A96 between Inverness and Craibstone Roundabout is predominantly single carriageway. There are dualled sections from Raigmore Interchange to just east of Inverness Retail Park roundabout and also from Inverurie roundabout to Craibstone roundabout.

The A9 between Perth and Inverness is single carriageway with dualled sections from Inveralmond roundabout to Birnam, Ballinluig to Pitlochry, Kincraig to Dalraddy, a section near Dalnaspidal,a section near Crubenmore, a section between Slochd and Tomatin, and a section from Moy to Inverness.

In 2023 there were two fatal casualties on single carriageway sections of the road where dualling was included within the pipeline of schemes from the Infrastructure Investment Plan. A96 between Inverness and Craibstone Roundabout recorded one fatality, and the A9 between Perth and Inverness recorded one fatality.

The personal injury accident information provided above is sourced from Transport Scotland’s Accident Manager Database based on the current figures available. The date period was taken from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 and the information was extracted from the database on 12 June 2025. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system: Transport Scotland only holds trunk road accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland. This information is subject to change, e.g. when later returns are received from Police Scotland, who are responsible for recording details of injury accidents.

Annual Scottish accident figures are published by Transport Scotland on a yearly basis and can be found on the Transport Scotland at www.transport.gov.scot.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with Police Scotland on matters of relevant and shared interest, including preventing and tackling hate crime in Scotland.

Annual bulletins containing accredited official statistics and information on the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland are published by the Scottish Government. Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2023-24 shows that the number of sexual crimes recorded by the police in Scotland decreased by 1% between 2022-23 and 2023-24, from 14,602 to 14,484.

That bulletin is clear that whilst there has been a small decrease in the last year, sexual crime has increased significantly since 2010-11. Over the last decade we have seen an increase in confidence to report incidents of sexual crime, in part reflecting a greater awareness and understanding of the issues among society as well as a move towards a more trauma informed and person-centred justice system.

We recognise that multiple factors lie behind the longer term trend of increasing reporting of sexual crime. Our action to tackle sexual offending includes increasing confidence in the justice system so more victims come forward, improving support for victims, modernising the law on sexual offences and investing a record £1.64 billion for policing this year. We continue to take robust action to tackle sexual offending through the Equally Safe Strategy – focusing on prevention, improving our laws, and encouraging more victims to come forward.

We recognise the key role that advocacy services can play in helping and supporting victims through the justice process. That is why the Scottish Government will provide over £32m to 23 organisations between 2025-2027, including £12m for specialist advocacy support, as part of its Victims Centred Approach Fund. In addition, the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill includes new proposals such as the establishment of a sexual offences court which aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our system at holding perpetrators to account whilst improving the experiences of victims and witnesses.

The Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are working together to help protect organisations from cyber criminals, by identifying fraudulent websites, preventing phishing emails, blocking phone numbers and ultimately bringing those responsible to justice. We encourage everyone who wishes to report a fraud to contact the police and to report suspicious sites to NCSC using the reporting tool on their website.

Partners will continue to share knowledge and learning around fraud activity. Fraud is committed by a broad range of criminals, from domestic lone actors to complex international organised crime groups.

The Key Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2024 publication shows that while overall casualties decreased in 2024, the number of fatalities increased by 9%.